Atley's ONE!!!

Saturday, July 11, Atley turned ONE!!! I can't believe it was a full year ago that we had a brand new Atley. Time sure goes by quickly. Here are some fun facts about my little sweet Atley:

On 7-11 one year ago, she was born at 10:13 p.m., and was 7.7 lbs and 20 inches long.

Now she weighs 18.12 lbs and is 30 inches tall!

She LOVES snacks. She's not a good eater generally, but loves little crackers and yogurt puffs.

She prefers soy milk over cows milk. She loves it!

She has always loved music, ever since she was first born. Music was the only thing that would stop her from crying when she had colic for that first 6 months, and now whenever she hears a song, she smiles and dances to it. :)

She loves The Wiggles, and Baby Einstein. She's always been a TV junkie. Andy and I joke that she's always happy as long as she's got her movie and a snack in front of her.

She loves kitties and dogs. She gets sooo excited when she gets to pet either, and will say "dah dah" referring to dogs.

She's a very happy, very easy-going little girl. A few weeks ago, she had really bad ear infections, and you would never have known it by her attitude. She was so happy.

Atley's very feminine and on her birthday I put a purple lei on her, and she was so excited. She didn't try to take it off all day.

She's figured out how, and loves to push buttons.

Her grandma and grandpa Jensen came to Bakersfield to help us party, and it was sooo nice to have them here. Thank you for traveling so far for Atley's little birthday party! :) We love you! THE CAKE...

Atley's first birthday cake, homemade by none other than... myself. It was my first attempt at being decorative with a cake, and I had so much fun doing it. It tasted really good too! :)
There has to be lots of pics when you put so much time and effort into something. :)

The most important part of Atley's day... the GIFTS!!! She got a WALKER from mommy and daddy, a mini piano that she loves, and grandma and grandpa got her a horse that she can ride and it rolls on the ground. She likes to press its cheek and hear it niegh.

Atley diving into her giant cupcake with grandma and grandpa J beside her. She loved the frosting!!

The ONE candle, and getting ready for action. Notice Atley's got her bib on all ready to eat sugar.

Hmmm... but does she like it???

Still so lady-like, eating with one finger at a time in her mouth.

Grandma and Grandpa also got her a little cowgirl hat, and she actually didn't mind wearing it! We had a blast with her in this hat.

Atley holding 'her baby' on grandpa's lap. She will give her kisses and holds her just like a real baby. She's so funny.

Grandma J dancing with Atley. She would squeal and laugh during the turns, she loves it, and she loves her grandma!! She gets so excited when she sees grandma and grandpa!!

Waiting for grandma and grandpa to arrive... a ritz cracker sticking out of her mouth. Silly girl.

Sequoia Day: Mineral King

So this year for Independence Day, Andy, Atley and I set out for a day in Sequoia National Park. I think this is our favorite park in CA so far. The trees are amazing, and it's sooo beautiful and peaceful. We picked a new route to drive on so we could see some new areas of the park. It was such a GORGEOUS day, so nice and warm. When we got up into the pines, we stopped at a campsite to eat lunch and picnic. Atley loved being in the mountains. She was all smiles, squeals, and kept waving her arms like crazy (she does this when she's really excited). Scenery pics along the drive. Oh, and (not pictured), but we saw a bear!!! I was sooo excited! It was just sitting on the road, and when we got close, it started barreling off into the trees. So I got to see it's little bear bum jiggle into the woods. It was so fun to see. It had pretty auburn fur that shimmered in the sunlight as it ran. I tried to grab my camera, but it was too fast.

More scenery. Isn't it so beautiful?

This is a little hike we went on to see a little waterfall. It was fun. We saw a marmot along the way. I told Atley it was a dog because she loves dogs so much. She got all excited and started saying "Dah, Dah". I'm sure the other hikers thought I was crazy though because I was calling it a doggy. Oh well.

We took of her little socks at the waters' edge and put her feet in... she seemed to be so fascinated by all of the running water.

Me doin' my mommy duties in the comfort of our Yukon, and of course Andy just HAD to get a picture of it.

Here Atley is, just enjoying the grandeur.

I am SOOOO fascinated with these huge pinecones!!! Aren't they cool? It's almost the size of Atley!

Bad lighting, but this is Andy and Atley in front of a huge Sequoia tree stump.

This is the campsite where we had our lunch-time picnic. Andy was sooo sweet to get everything ready for the trip in the morning while bug and I slept in (we had a rough night... Atley's getting her molars in!), so he had packed a little grill and some hotdogs and chips and a bunch of snacks for our lunch.

We took the Mineral King road... it's very very windy the entire way... but this is the bridge you cross over a huge river that carves its way through the canyon. It's so beautiful.

I made this very comment to Andy yesterday, and this was his reply: "Now all you need is some hairy armpits to go with that granola comment."